At roughly 12 p.m. On October 30th, 2024, Fort Hamilton High School bid a temporary farewell to teachers, staff, and dozens of students who were all set to embark on a trip to the Richard Rodgers Theatre in Manhattan.
AP U.S. History teacher Ms. Glass took a number of students from her classes to see the Hamilton musical, run by the Hamilton Education Program, as part of an educational experience created by the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History in partnership with The Rockefeller Foundation.
Fort Hamilton began attending Hamilton when the program began back in 2016 and continues to attend it annually — typically around the first couple of months of the school year.
Ms. Glass has been coordinating the trip since 2016 and works together with other teachers, such as AP World History teacher, Ms. Tiedemann. Ms. Glass’s job is to assign a project required for the trip that informs students about important events in history and select students who are going on the trip.
“[Hamilton] is an amazing experience; students who go say it’s life changing,” Ms. Glass told The Pilot.
Ms. Glass believes that Hamilton’s unique and creative blend of storytelling and rap music can help students better understand history. The play has revolutionized how she teaches U.S. history; she has even included songs from the musical in her lesson, as they make certain historical topics more entertaining for students and get them thinking about the significance of historical events.
“Hamilton helps [us] look at history in such a different way; it modernizes it and helps it come to life,” she said.
Ms. Glass believes that it’s more than just a musical used to help viewers grasp a better understanding of history; according to her, there are actual life lessons that can be learned from just watching the musical.
“[The musical] helps you think about your life story and what you’re going to leave behind when you’re gone,” said Ms. Glass.
The students who had the opportunity to attend the trip remarked on the depth and relevance of the play in modern times.
“I’m not the biggest history buff, but you can really tell the play was about more than just history,” said Lauren Kay Ramos, one of the juniors selected to see the show. “It was like a series of life lessons.”
Students were full of awe at the effort put into making Hamilton a life changing experience — from the lighting effects, to the choreography, to the acting, many students said that the experience was enlightening, especially because they were seated directly in front of the stage.
“I knew it would be good, but wow — they really outdid themselves,” said Ramos. “I remember being so sad about leaving and wishing I could watch it for the first time again. Seeing it in person, so close to the actors, is just a whole new level of insane.”
Many students who attended the trip had never seen Hamilton, and some hadn’t seen anything from Broadway, so being able to experience this with their classmates was an experience they’ll never forget.
“I thought Hamilton was amazing; the music, the storytelling, and the energy of the performances really brought history to life,” said Raneem Alhanbali, a junior at Fort Hamilton. ”It was exciting and emotional at the same time.”
The musical also helped many students connect what they have learned to the present moment in America’s political climate.
“The trip made history feel more real and personal,” said Alhanbali. “Seeing how the characters struggled and succeeded helped me connect to the events and understand why they’re important in a way that reading about them in a textbook can’t.”
Some students who had seen the musical before had high expectations, but others walked in with an open mind.
“It was much better than I expected,” said Alhanbali. “I knew it would be good, but the way they used rap and modern music to tell a historical story made it even more interesting and fun to watch.”
Although Hamilton tells the story of American history, students and teachers alike were able to gain valuable insight from the lessons taught by the characters. It was a meaningful performance for everyone involved, and many individuals who watched it hold it in very high regards. Most say that it’s something that will stick with the audience for long after they watched it.
“Overall, the Hamilton trip was an amazing, once-in-a-lifetime experience that I’ll never forget,” said Alhanbali.
